Is there a way to prevent people from cracking your apps?

I'm thinking no, and that you just have to hope people won't, but I figured I'd ask anyways, I've looked and didn't find anything.

Over the last few days, I've jailbroken my iPod, played around with everything, found out about cracked apps and how easy it was to crack them. I'll admit, I did use a few cracked apps, but I deleted them and bought all the ones that I used that I could afford, I only used a couple, so it wasn't that hard to buy them.

I don't support cracked apps, cracking apps, anything of the sort, and I wanted to know if there's any way to prevent your apps from getting cracked. I'm working on making a few games, but got somewhat discouraged and angry when I saw just how easy it was to get cracked apps on your iPod. It downright sucks.

Also, does anyone know why Apple doesn't step in more? It seems like it'd be easy enough to kill cracked apps. I don't know much about how cracking them is played out, but I THINK how it works is that people buy the apps, change some code, and resign it, it seems like it would be easy enough for Apple to either 1. Take out iTunes support for IPAs, since that is how most apps are hacked, or 2. Make it so that whenever someone goes to install a new IPA, check with a list that's encrypted to holy hell before the apps work.

Alright, apparently I didn't search hard enough, I googled some more and found an article about a company being able to turn cracked apps into demos, I'm just going to add the article to this though because I still want people's opinions on why Apple doesn't step up more, and what methods you use to prevent piracy in your apps.

The article is worth a read, but mentions some websites where you can get hacked applications and what not, so here it is with all that edited out and in quotes:

A company called Sopods, makers of the Full-Screen Web Browser application for the Apple iPhone, have just implemented new ground-breaking anti-piracy measures for the iPhone platform. After pirated copies of the company's application began to surface in the wild, the application's developer, angry about the lost income, came up with a way to detect the cracked apps and then turn them back into "demoware." With this process, the cracked apps will still work, but a message will appear after 10 runs encouraging the owner to purchase the legal copy in the iTunes store or exit the application
App Phones Home, Tracks Pirates, Nags Them to Buy

Ben Chatelain is the software engineer behind the Full Screen Web Browser application which was released in the iPhone App Store on February 12th, 2009. It soon became fairly popular, having now been downloaded over 66,000 times and ranking in the Top 100 Paid Apps lists in ten countries. In the U.S. and nine other countries, it also ranks in the Top 20 Utilities list.

However, within four days of the initial release, Ben received a Google Alert informing him that a cracked version of the application had been made public on ******.** - a site that supposedly provides the "try before you buy" functionality that's currently missing from iTunes. In theory, users can download and evaluate applications using ******.**, but in reality it mostly serves as a way to download pirated copies of paid iPhone applications for free.

Upset to find his application pirated, Ben began to investigate ways to detect the cracked apps in order to do something to the pirated copies out there, like shutting them down remotely or causing them to self-destruct. Still, he didn't want to do anything that would affect legitimate users of the app or cause problems with Apple that could lead to his app being pulled from their store.

Instead, Ben developed a server callback mechanism that alerted him when a copy of his application was cracked. The data sent back to him included the app's unique device identifier (UDID). For those applications registered as cracked, the server will now control a demo period. After 10 runs, a message is presented to those running the bootlegged copy, encouraging them to purchase the Full Screen Web Browser page in the App Store. The only other option provided is to exit the application.

In addition to the warning message, Ben also cleverly adds a "guilt trip" to the message, informing the users of the pirated copies that purchasing the application legally will help him feed his 1-year-old baby. (He decided against his wife's suggestion of actually putting a photo of the baby in the message.)

Says Ben, one of his main motivators for choosing the server-controlled demo option was because with iPhone applications, there's no way to save data outside the tightly-controlled sandbox in which they run. That means that demo periods could easily be reset by simply reinstalling the application. His method, which uses a web service instead, lets him control applications from outside the app's sandbox.
Piracy Troubles

Since the announcement of **********, a program for pirating applications from the iPhone App Store, a lot of developers have been discussing what they can do to prevent their applications from becoming compromised. Some game developers have considered using server-based tracking methods to separate the high scores of the pirates from those of the paid users, but to our knowledge, no one has yet implemented anything like this yet.

Other developers are turning to solutions like Kali's Anti-Piracy service, which is installed as an additional layer of protection on top of the application itself. Although not entirely foolproof, it does make it more difficult for hackers to crack an application. Hackers attempting to crack Kali-protected apps will end up with non-functional copies, says the company.

But unlike other anti-piracy methods, Ben's server-controlled method, inspired by John Gruber's article on Daring Fireball, allows for the possibility of converting pirated copies into paid versions. Since the introduction of his new anti-piracy measures only two days ago, 23 of the pirated users have seen the "crack detected" message. One of the 23 ended up purchasing a legal copy. Ben reports that the current rate of pirated users is around 9.1% (758 pirates out of 8241 users who have run the app since the crack appeared). For applications whose install base is even larger, turning pirates into customers in this manner could have even a greater impact. This method could be especially useful to iPhone game developers, who, according to a game developer quoted by Gruber, are the most affected by piracy. For example, two out of three users of that particular game ran bootleg copies of the application.

The server-based tracking method implemented in the Full Screen Web Browser represents what is likely to be only one of many future attempts by iPhone developers to prevent their apps from being cracked and pirated. Expect to see more of the same soon.

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Moderators, I'm sorry if this is a touchy subject, I read the rules, and I THINK that as long as I don't post how to download or install apps. I completely understand if this thread needs to be deleted or edited.

Apple have done all that they need to. On a stock iphone, the apps are 100% non crackable.

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Exactly. Although, it takes that one selfish person to replace a certain file through SSH and be able to get any app he basically wants too.

Although, if the OP is developing for the Cydia application, it's going to be a lot different then if he's developing for the AppStore. Developing for the AppStore basically is the gogo for someone to crack it. If it's a Cydia app, then there's no such tool to crack it.

Apple have done all that they need to. On a stock iphone, the apps are 100% non crackable.

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I guess that's correct, through Apple's eyes. Still though, it seems like they could EASILY do more to help both themselves through the 30% that they lose per crack and the developers, I guess either way, they're still making money.

I agree with 007, the App Store Apps are easier to crack ATM, however, I think with enough time, the same people who pirate app store games will pirate Cydia games.

I guess that's correct, through Apple's eyes. Still though, it seems like they could EASILY do more to help both themselves through the 30% that they lose per crack and the developers, I guess either way, they're still making money.

I agree with 007, the App Store Apps are easier to crack ATM, however, I think with enough time, the same people who pirate app store games will pirate Cydia games.

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Every AppStore app is crackable, whether it's worth cracking or not, the tools available make it easy for the noobiest of the noobs. But as for Cydia, if a great game is released via it, and it's has a price, I'm sure a cracked version won't be available as fast as a AppStore one would.